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The Formation of an Ottoamn Egyptian Elite in the 18th Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Gabriel Piterberg
Affiliation:
Wolfson College Oxford, England

Extract

The conquest of the Mamluk sultanate by the Ottoman Empire brought into confrontation two centers in the history of Islamic civilization. One, Asia Minor and southeast Europe, was the center of the Ottoman Empire. The other, Egypt, had been the core of the Mamluk sultanate for 2½ centuries (1250–1517). Both states were dominated by Turkish-speaking elites based on the institution of military slavery. In both cases this slave-recruited manpower was the backbone of the army, and, to a lesser extent, of the administration.

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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References

Notes

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11 Ibid., pp. 272–73, 280 ff.

12 Ibid., p. 280.

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34 Ibid., fol. 13b.

36 Ibid., fols. 11a–1b.

37 Raymond offers a different distinction between yoldah and ocakh, whereby the former denotes civilians attached to the ocaks, and the latter rank-and-file soldiers. See Raymond, A., Artisans et commercants au Caire au XVIII`me siÈcle, 2 vols. (Damascus, 1974), 1:728;Google ScholarWinter, , “Turks”, 117.Google Scholar

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41 Shaw, Cezzar, fol. 14b. It should be pointed out that while modern historiography believes that mamluk-recruited manpower was chiefly Circassian, Cezzar asserts that it was mostly Georgian. A possible explanation for this discrepancy is the fact that in the Ottoman–Russian war of 1768–74 the empire may have lost traditional territories of mamluks′ recruitment, hence the misirh were forced to look for alternatives.

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58 Ibid., pp. 31–35.

59 Shaw, , The Financial, pp. 2630.Google Scholar

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63 A1-Khashshgb, Tadhkira, fols. 4a–4b.

64 Ibid., fol. 9b.

65 For the series of reforms aimed at dealing with ayanship and finally abolishing it, see Inalcik, , “Centralization”, pp. 4951;Google Scholar for the decision to send a force to Egypt and its implementation, see Shaw, , Ottoman Egypt in the 18th Century, pp. 68.Google Scholar

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